Tonight we begin the news in the village of Duck Run 3, southwest of Spanish Lookout where there is a simmering land dispute. Villagers say they are being pushed off their farms to make way for a cemetery.
They say that the area rep has been trying to run them off of the land that they developed themselves, even after they tried to apply for ownership.
Last week, Orlando Habet told us that the issue just began about 5 years ago, after the Ministry of Health had already given the okay for the cemetery to be placed there.
But these villagers have put their blood sweat and money into developing those lands - and they won't go quietly.
Courtney Menzies visited them today and has this story.
Nestled in the Duck Run 3 Village is a dirt road that opens up to a small community. But before that, the area was just bush and swamp, until residents occupied and cultivated the land.
They didn't have their land papers at the time, and in 2019, many of them began applying for it. They had already built houses and started farms in the decades before, but up to now, all they have to show for it is survey papers.
And because of that, they're at risk of losing their land, and having it turned into a cemetery.
Rose Letkeman, Resident, Duck Run 3
"Years passed, we still worked, we were developing, you are seeing the area, then the problem start, when they see that we built roads, that we work hard for the electricity, that we start clean it up, that we start fence it up, that we start developing so that the students can have some good roads to go out and our kids can not be in danger of the wild animals crossing these mountains."
"And then I start building this house and nothing happened until 2019, they start coming in and they start seeing a very pretty place and they start liking it, so then they start targeting us."
One resident, Rose Letkeman, explained that she first moved to the area in 2014, and as she cleared the land, she had no assistance from the government, but also no problems. But the area began developing, that's when the leaders set their sights on their land.
Rose Letkeman, Resident, Duck Run 3
"Why they have to wait for me, until I cleaned up, I go and apply for the land is when they started to claim the land for the cemetery."
Now these villagers live in constant fear - especially since last year, surveyors came and put pegs into their farms. And last week, the government sent a bulldozer.
Jorge Guardado, Resident, Duck Run 3
"For these past years, the most recent event was a week ago where on the main road, they parked a bulldozer, they were ready to start opening the road but apparently since they saw that the place was already developed, as one person said, they were told that this place is a big bush, a big mountain so when the bulldozer parked there, he's like, why is there a house and no bush, if he was supposed to open a road. So far we haven't heard anything that's why we try to take things into our own hands before something more dangerous happens around here."
Rose Letkeman, Resident, Duck Run 3
"A lot of times we have no peace. I can't go outside because as soon as I go outside some strange cars come to my house. I can't sleep okay thinking about the nights, what was happening. You see I have cameras now and I still need one more because I need to be surrounded by cameras in my own country."
And while Minister - and area rep - Orlando Habet rejected the claim that these families have been here for over ten to as many as twenty years, they say the proof is in the fruits of their labor.
Jorge Guardado, Resident, Duck Run 3
"We're protecting what we own, none of the neighbors are fighting against each other, we're trying to protect what we have, what our families have been able to provide for us and as you see, we even have cattle, farms with coconut trees, fruit trees, chickens, everything all around."
Reporter
"So that's indicative that you've been here a long time, because these things don't just spring up over a couple years."
Jorge Guardado, Resident, Duck Run 3
"Yeah definitely. If you see this house, how long do you think it will take a person with, let's say an average income, how long will it take to build a house? More than ten years. We have another neighbor who just moved into their new house, he spend almost 12 years building his cement house. Now cattle, we have had those cattle since they were a month old and see now they're already bearing young ones."
And they feel that since the area rep has never visited them, he may not know just how developed the land is. They're hoping that someone in authority would step in and help them, rather than try to remove them.
Rose Letkeman, Resident, Duck Run 3
"He never come and visit us, when the pandemic time came, he never brought us a piece of bread to eat. We used the land to plant cassava, plantains, pumpkins, everything so we could feed our kids."
"Landy has never been in this area, he doesn't know who lives in my house."
Jorge Guardado, Resident, Duck Run 3
"In order for us to fix this big mess we're into, we just ask the respective authorities to take matters into their own hands, put your hand on your heart and see for your own self, if you were in this situation, what would you do?"
"All we want is that we get our piece of land fully documented, we are not here because we want land for free, we're willing to pay the price for the accommodation that government has to do, we know that things in life don't come for free."
"We just want it to stop."
And if it doesn't, Letkeman says they're not going down so easily:
Rose Letkeman, Resident, Duck Run 3
"If they don't end up doing the right thing, we will continue fighting and we will kick any bulldozer that was to remove my house from here. And I am letting you know in the news that if they don't stop this mess that they started, we will continue fighting."
Habet also told us that it isn't his ministry's jurisdiction, but a problem for the Ministry of Natural Resources.
